University of Canterbury Home
    • Admin
    UC Research Repository
    UC Library
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
    View Item 
    1. UC Home
    2. Library
    3. UC Research Repository
    4. College of Arts
    5. Arts: Theses and Dissertations
    6. View Item
    1. UC Home
    2.  > 
    3. Library
    4.  > 
    5. UC Research Repository
    6.  > 
    7. College of Arts
    8.  > 
    9. Arts: Theses and Dissertations
    10.  > 
    11. View Item

    Mapping identity and connection : how first-time mothers make sense of premature birth (2017)

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Porter, Lauren final PhD thesis Jan18.pdf (1.751Mb)
    Type of Content
    Theses / Dissertations
    UC Permalink
    http://hdl.handle.net/10092/14610
    http://dx.doi.org/10.26021/4679
    
    Thesis Discipline
    Social Work
    Degree Name
    Doctor of Philosophy
    Publisher
    University of Canterbury
    Language
    English
    Collections
    • Arts: Theses and Dissertations [1645]
    Authors
    Porter, Lauren Lindsey
    show all
    Abstract

    First time motherhood in the context of premature birth is a specific experience of motherhood that has been relatively unexplored in the literature. This research examined the phenomena of meaning-making, identity formation, and relationship creation by first time mothers following “low risk” premature births.

    Low risk premature births are moderate and late preterm births associated with a lack of serious, persistent medical concern alongside well understood and effective medical responses. The vast majority of premature births in New Zealand occur in this category and, as with elsewhere in the world, such births are on the rise. While understudied, this subset of premature infants carry significantly more risk factors than their full term peers.

    Women who become mothers for the first time via the experience of premature birth must negotiate associated stresses, separations, and medical uncertainties in order to come to understand their lived experiences and evolve their identities as mothers. As with their low risk infants, exploration of the processes and perceptions of this group of mothers is underinvestigated.

    The research employed the qualitative methodology of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to analyse semi-structured interviews with 15 participant mothers. Findings were generated in response to research questions that focussed on how participants made meaning of the event of premature birth, the relationship with their infants, and their nascent identities as mothers. Three unifying superordinate themes emerged and centred upon the mothers’ unique perspectives of their maternal experience (“Little things are big things”), the maternal distress associated with premature birth (“Maternal experience”), the particular obstacles mothers faced, and the avenues they pursued in an attempt to create a sense of themselves as mothers (“How do I become a mother?”).

    Findings demonstrated that the identification of mothers and babies as low risk, created a paradoxical situation in which the perception that the babies were healthy and the mothers where healthy and competent actually increased the overall risk for the dyad. Furthermore, the findings suggested that mothers made meaning from within an ecological framework that was dyadic in nature. When mothers were considered outside of this dyadic maternal context—or when their infants were—surplus suffering occurred.

    Findings have important implications for approaches to psychosocial interventions in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), including psychological support and social work practice. When professionals are better able to see mothers’ needs where they have been previously concealed, mothers and their infants can be better served. Similarly, when professionals can understand, embrace, and respond to mothers from an awareness of dyadic ecology—what this thesis terms the “dyad-in-context”—approaches to support, advocacy, and treatment can move beyond compartmentalised medicalised approaches to more relational, responsive, authentic ways of being with mothers and their infants.

    Rights
    All Rights Reserved
    https://canterbury.libguides.com/rights/theses
    Advanced Search

    Browse

    All of the RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThesis DisciplineThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThesis Discipline

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics
    • SUBMISSIONS
    • Research Outputs
    • UC Theses
    • CONTACTS
    • Send Feedback
    • +64 3 369 3853
    • ucresearchrepository@canterbury.ac.nz
    • ABOUT
    • UC Research Repository Guide
    • Copyright and Disclaimer
    • SUBMISSIONS
    • Research Outputs
    • UC Theses
    • CONTACTS
    • Send Feedback
    • +64 3 369 3853
    • ucresearchrepository@canterbury.ac.nz
    • ABOUT
    • UC Research Repository Guide
    • Copyright and Disclaimer